


step on the glass, try to wake up

by AdorasBliss



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Gen, Resurrection, cryptid apprentice, those poor poor souls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-24 03:01:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18562564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AdorasBliss/pseuds/AdorasBliss
Summary: What if when Asra brought the apprentice back, they weren't brought back quite right?





	1. Asra

**Author's Note:**

> This was largely inspired by a list of headcanons posted by collective-laugh on tumblr, you should check her out!  
> That being said, I'm not really a writer, I just had to get this idea out of my head.  
> If you enjoy, feel free to comment or rant at me over on tumblr! (averagecryptid.tumblr.com)

Asra claims he never noticed it. Muriel says Asra always knew but chose to ignore it. Nadia felt it when she first met her but was desperate enough to swallow her fear. Julian and Portia assumed it was magic and tried not to think about it too much. Lucio didn’t notice until much too late.

It started the day she was brought back. Her body was whole again, warm and breathing, and so so alive. While Asra cried with joy, deep ragged sobs, Faust uncoiled herself and slithered over to the still warming body, coiling up on her belly. The familiar refused to leave her spot for days, refusing to give any explanation.

After the initial relief had worn of Asra began to worry. Why was she still sleeping? Why couldn’t he wake her? It’s been days. But the cards held no answer and neither did the stars. It was deep into the fourth night that woke up to dread coiling deep in his belly. When he opened his eyes, all he could make out was the shape of Antheas face, cast in sharp angles by the moonlight with eyes darker than he remembered.

“Am I satisfactory?”, she whispered into the quiet.

Asra felt the hair on the back of his neck rise, but before he could respond she turned and left the room. He scrambled up and after her only to find her gone. He ran down the stairs, trying to catch up, only to find her lying peacefully in the cot he left her in. Faust, still curled up on her belly, lifted her head and flicked her tongue at him. _Sleep bad?_

“I…yeah, I just had a nightmare, sorry for waking you”, Asra said, shook himself and went back to bed.

In weeks that followed, after she woke up and Asra felt her memory loss like a repeated slap in the face, everything seemed normal. Anthea picked up on things quite quickly and they fell into a comfortable routine together. Relearning all she once knew took time, but time was something they could take each day. Step by step her personality emerged again, her smile lit up her face and Asras heart again. And if her smile seemed a little too sharp around the edges or if her shadow flickered more than the candles would have warranted, surely his eyes must have played a trick on him.

Up until one night, when Asra woke up once more with a feeling of dread lodged deep inside of him. He faintly heard something rummaging in the storage room of the shop. Expecting some sort of robbery in progress he grabbed his hiking staff and crept downstairs. Slowly opening the door as not to alert the intruder to his presence he peaked inside. His staff clattered noisily to the floor at the sight in front of him.

Various ingredients, magical and nonmagical, were strewn across the floor, mixed with ripped boxes and broken bits of glass. in the middle of it all sat Anthea, slightly crouched over something in her hands. At the noise of the staff falling her head snapped up, eyes wide and something still wriggling caught in her teeth.

“Anthea…?”, Asra whispered, reaching out a trembling hand. “What are you doing?”

“I…I’m not sure”, she replied, looking around herself in apparent confusion.

Asra exhaled shakily.

“You probably had a nightmare and sleepwalked a little. Can you come over to me, sweetheart?”, he asked.

Anthea rose slowly from the ruins surrounding her and made her way over, following Asra to his room and letting him check her over from head to toe.

When he ran his fingers over her feet, checking for stray shards of glass, Asra felt a slight shift in Antheas posture and looked up to look for any signs of discomfort in her face.

What he found instead was the most emotionless expression he had ever seen on her, nothing but cold curiosity in her eyes. The dread that had been lingering in his bones since he woke up washed over him like a tidal wave.

“What are you wondering?”, she asked in a quiet voice that wasn’t quite hers.


	2. Nadia

Nadia had heard the stories of course. Of the great magician Asra, powerful enough to see the future and even bring back the dead. She took them with a grain of salt, skeptical of the rumors and whispers surrounding the magician. But the nightmares and headaches that plagued her were enough to drive even the strongest to desperate measures. So desperate measures she took.

It was deep into an otherwise unremarkable night that she decided to seek Asra out, wrapping herself in shawls and venturing out into the quiet city. No one bothered her or even looked twice at her as she made her way through the moonlit streets to the door of a little shop, marked only by a weathered wooden sign that read _Potions and Products of magical Properties._

Nadia moved to knock on the door but a low, sinking feeling made her hesitate. She looked over her shoulder to see if someone had followed her, but there was only a cat on the otherwise empty street. Nadia took a deep breath and mentally scolded herself before turning back around to finally knock, only to have a small noise caught in her throat.

The door was open and in it stood a young woman, looking at Nadia with a sort of detached interest.

“What do you want from me?”, she asked.

“I’m looking for the magician Asra, I have questions”, Nadia answered after gathering herself.

The woman blinked slowly and took a step to the side.

“He’s not here, but maybe I can be of assistance?”, she smiled around the words.

Again, Nadia hesitated. Something told her not to accept the offer, but the lingering ache in the back of her head urged her on and into the shop. As she passed the young woman her silhouette seemed to flicker for a moment, distorted and sharp around the edges. Nadia whipped her head around but whatever she saw in the corner of her eye must have been her tired mind playing tricks on her because the woman only blinked slowly and looked at Nadia quizzically.

The next day Nadia passed some time with the woman, who had introduced herself as Asras apprentice Anthea, in the dining hall and found her to be quite pleasant company. She had surreptitiously removed a card from the deck Anthea carried with her and already instructed the guards as what to expect the following day. After retiring for the night Nadia rubbed at her temples with a sigh. A low but persistent headache had plagued her since she had arrived at the shop. For a moment she entertained the thought of Anthea having something to do with it, but quickly dismissed it again. The bad feeling she had upon first meeting the woman must have been sleep deprivation catching up to her.

Nadias headache had lessened a little by the next day as she sat on her balcony and watched the costumed guards scamper away. She was a little surprised that the apprentice had gone after them in a rather leisurely speed, but who was she to judge the way magicians worked. The countess took a final look around the garden and after a few minutes made her way back inside. The halls were quiet, the servants not yet preparing for the masquerade Nadia planned to announce, and the only distinct sound were her skirts swishing around her legs.

As she mused about how she would close down Lucios quarters for the duration of the event she rounded the corner and was almost ran over by Mercedes and Melchior. Glaring at their quickly retreating forms Nadia flattened out her skirts and turned around again only freeze.

In front of her stood the apprentice, head cocked to the side and studying Nadia with a look that sent a cold shiver down her back. Nadia stared right back.

“Have you already given up already, Anthea?”, she asked. The apprentice reached into her pocket and when she pulled out the exact card Nadia had given to the guards, Nadia felt her mouth go dry.

“If you could tell me more about Dr. Devorak, I’ll begin the search right away”, Anthea said and a small smile played around her lips.

After fetching Portia and letting the apprentice into the library, Nadia called for the guard she had given the card to. His colleague, who had been dressed as the deer, said he hadn’t reported back yet. Nadia didn’t think much of it and instructed that the guard should report to her the minute he came back to the palace. When two days later the rabbit costume turned up in the maze, but the guard was still missing, Nadia decided to always keep a good distance between herself and the apprentice. And if she heard things at night she didn’t hear before, it surely must have been Mercedes and Melchior.


	3. Muriel

When Asra told him about his plan to bring her back, Muriel wanted nothing to do with it. He had seen death, looked them in the eye more times than he cares to remember, and he knew that it changed the fundamental structure of things. He too missed her terribly, but some things are not meant to be undone.

So he kept his distance, listened to the tales Asra told him of how well Anthea was adjusting, how she once again laughed and lived, and kept silent. Asra told him about the missing memories and all Muriel said was that sometimes things are better forgotten than remembered. He should know.

They continued this routine for years, until one day something came to the woods that should never have existed. Muriel didn’t know exactly what it meant to see Lucio return as a specter, but he felt an urgency deep in his bones, so he set off into the city to talk to Asra about it. That’s when he saw her.

She was just leaving the shop and Muriel had to wonder how no one started walking faster or even made an effort to avoid her. He supposed she looked normal enough, but there was something about the air surrounding her that made the hair on his neck stand up. He decided not to approach, but instead follow her. For a while Anthea simply seemed to wander around the marketplace, stopping for bread and chatting with the baker. When she ducked into a little alley just of the main road Muriel waited a moment before following her. The last thing he wanted was for Anthea to notice him.

Muriel peaked around the corner and saw her standing in the middle of the alley, a cat rubbing up against her. She was looking straight at him.

“Why do you run from me?”, she asked with a neutral expression.

Muriel had always been inclined to trust his instincts. So when they almost screamed at him to get out of this place, he turned on the spot and left the city without looking back.

He didn’t know how Asra could cloud his senses this much.


	4. Julian

Looking back, Julian is embarrassed to admit how long it took him to pick up on it. At first there was just elation. To see her face once more, to see her sweet smile and hear her voice seemed like a balm on his soul. He still blamed himself for her fate. For not being there when she needed him and failing to find a cure for the plague in time.

They were in the Rowdy Raven when he first noticed that her shadow flickered in the opposite direction then the light of the candle should have cast it. Julian wrote it off as imagination, he did have a lot to drink already.

In the Red Market the animals seemed to be especially agitated when they walked by, rattling in their cages and snapping at the bars. It was probably close to their feeding time, Julian thought. At least until they ventured into the forest.

As they were searching for the infamous Scourge of the South, their footsteps seemed to echo around them more loudly than usual. If Julian were to guess, he would have said it was just nerves that made it seem so. They were looking for a man after all, who seemed to have left a deep-seated fear in the minds of those that still remember him. What if this Scourge was aggressive? What if something happened to Anthea? His worries kept Julian from noticing that their footsteps were no louder than normal. It was just the forest that fallen deathly still.

It wasn’t until the masquerade that Julian realized it might not have been his imagination playing tricks on him after all.


	5. Lucio

Lucio knew about her of course. How could he have his new body stolen right from under his nose without noticing? But there was nothing he could do. So he bid his time, waiting for a chance to set his plan in motion and take back what was rightfully his.

When the time finally drew near, and the little thief arrived in his palace he just had to get a good look at them. She was wandering his quarters, looking this way and that way with an undecipherable look on her face and he decided to have a little fun with her. But his fun was spoiled before it could even begin when that blasted little red head servant found the thief and took her away. Mercedes and Melchior stayed behind, looking up at Lucios ghostly form and keening, seemingly agitated.

Lucio decided to follow the little thief and torment her a little until the plan came to fruition. What an airheaded mess she seemed, trying to get to Julian and clear his name. Lucio was furious how often Anthea looked in his direction, as if trying to parade the body she stole from him. It never occurred to him that maybe she wasn’t looking through him, but at him.

Days passed and the masquerade was about to begin. The ritual had been set up and all players were assembled. Lucio was ready to reclaim the body that was rightfully his. And so he did, strolling down the grand staircase and greeting his subjects, feeling vindicated.

It was in the middle of his speech that Lucio heard them, voices whispering from everywhere around him. All the guests in the great hall were silent, everyone staring up at him with their mouth hanging open. Lucio held his grand posture, but he slowly felt his grin growing strained, his arms trembling and a bead of cold sweat run down his back. With a flourish he waved his hand.

“Continue the feast!”, he exclaimed, turned on his heel and rushed back to his quarters.

He could hear three sets of feet following him, but he paid them no mind, to preoccupied with the effort it took to walk. Every step he took felt like wading through mud, getting thicker and harder with every inch he moved forward. Eventually the three people caught up to him and he was roughly turned around by a hand grabbing his shoulder.

The hand turned out to belong to Nadia, who recoiled at the sight of him. Behind her stood Asra and Julian, their faces painted in equal measures with disgust and horror.

“What? No welcome home kiss, Noddy?”, Lucio asked, drawing in a rasping breath. When did breathing become so hard?

“What…What’s happening to him?”, Julian whispered, hand coming up to remove his mask.

“I’m not sure”, Asra replied, looking Lucio up and down.

All three of them took a little step back as Lucio felt a shudder go through his whole body. The count was pale and sweating and for a moment it had seemed like his whole form distorted in various directions.

“Tell her to shut up already!”, Lucio roared, startling the other three, and fell back against the wall, “It’s MINE!”

“What is he talking about?”, Nadia asked and turned to Asra. The magician was unusually pale as he shook his head and stared down the corridor as if transfixed. Nadia followed his gaze and felt herself freeze up.

At the end of the corridor, flickering in and out of sight, stood Anthea. Her face was completely blank as she began advancing on the group, her eyes fixed on Lucio. No one dared to move as she spared Nadia, Asra, and Julian a glance before turning to stand in front of Lucio.

“Can you hear them?”, Anthea asked, and her voice was and was not hers. “The thousands upon thousands you condemned recounting your sins?”

Lucio sneered at her, slowly slipping down the wall. She stared impassively down at him. Both their forms flickered more violently now, changing in frequency. While Lucio disappeared for longer intervals, ANTHEA seemed to become more and more solid.

“Tell me Lucio…where do we go?”, she asked, her smile too sharp and holding more teeth than it should.

With a final strangled scream, Lucios body shattered like glass. Asra, Nadia, and Julian threw their arms up to protect themselves. When they lowered them, Anthea was standing before them, smiling sweetly and holding out her hands.

“We have a ritual to interrupt”, she said, all tension that had surrounded her gone.

And so they did. The masquerade was a success, Julians reputation restored, and Vesuvia finally on it’s way to a better future.

And if you pass a young magician on the street and her shadow seems a little too long or her smile a little too sharp, well, it’s surely just your imagination playing tricks on you.


End file.
